Who Are The Leaders In India’s Audit Landscape?

The Big Six Indian audit firms Deloitte, EY, Grant Thornton, KPMG, MSKA and PwC between them handled a high 323 assignments of the 483 Nifty-500 companies as on 31 March 2024, according to primeinfobase.com, an initiative of PRIME Database Group.

These audit firms handled two out of every three audits (67%) of the 483 Nifty-500 companies in as on 31 March 2024. The auditor details were not available for 17 companies.

Their dominance increased from FY23 when they audited 61% of the Nifty-500 universe, according to Pranav Haldea, managing director of PRIME Database Group, which provides data on the capital markets.

Primeinfobase.com said in terms of all companies whose equity shares were listed on the National Stock Exchange (Main Board) as on 31 March 2024, the Big Six Indian audit firms handled 637 assignments of 1,961 companies, or 32.5% of the total, a slight increase from 32.1% in 2022-23. The auditor details were not available for 47 companies.

The top 10 audit firms accounted for audit of as many as 748 companies, or 38% of the total. Leading the league table was the EY Group with 164 companies, followed by KPMG Group (141) and Deloitte Group (119).

Primeinfobase.com said on an overall basis, as many as 834 audit firms audited 1,961 companies in 2023-24. This is down from 848 audit firms, which audited 1,879 companies listed on the NSE as on 31 March 2023 (Auditor details were not available for 15 companies).

This implies that, on an average, an audit firm audited 2.35 companies in 2023-24, (up from 2.22 companies in 2022-23, it added.

RANKING BY 2022-23 AUDIT FEE (STANDALONE BASIS)

RANKING BY OVERALL FEE (STANDALONE BASIS)

LEADING SIGNATORY NAME PARTNERS

Upcoming Auditor Tenure Expiries

Going forward, tenures of 222 auditors in 209 companies are set to expire in 2024-25, 224 auditors in 215 companies in 2025-26 and a huge 883 auditors in 868 companies in 2026-27 on account of audit rotation regulations.

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